wojak
/WOH-jak/noun
Meaning
A Wojak is a crude, usually black-outlined drawing of a bald human face or figure used as a reaction image, meme template, or shorthand for an emotion or recognizable type of person. The original version suggests sadness, loneliness, regret, or quiet frustration, while edited versions can represent identities, habits, political attitudes, and subcultural stereotypes.[1][2][3]
- 1. The original melancholy, bald cartoon face, also known as Feels Guy, used to express sadness, vulnerability, regret, or shared emotional pain.
- 2. A reusable meme template whose face, clothing, expression, captions, or surrounding characters are altered to show a particular feeling or situation.
- 3. A member of the wider family of named Wojak variants, such as Doomer, NPC, Coomer, Brainlet, Crying Wojak, and Soyjak.
- 4. A visual archetype used to caricature a type of online person, sometimes sympathetically and sometimes as an insult.
- 5. A Wojak-based image used in political or extremist meme culture, where the character may carry meanings beyond its original emotional reaction use.
Examples
“This is the most accurate Wojak for my Monday morning.”
“Pure Wojak energy after checking my bank account.”
“The caption says everything; the Wojak does the rest.”
“They turned the whole group chat into Wojaks arguing about pizza.”
“That sad little Wojak is basically my reaction to the ending.”
Origin and spread
The character's exact creator is unknown. The earliest preserved appearance described by MemePulse is a December 16, 2009 archive of an MS Paint party comic; accounts of the image's earlier path place a file called ciepła twarz, or “warm face,” on the Polish imageboard Vichan. The name Wojak became attached to the image after a poster using that name shared it on Krautchan in 2010. By 2011, the face appeared in the “I know that feel bro” hugging format and alongside “that feel when,” later shortened to TFW. During the 2010s and 2020s, users turned the original reaction face into a broad drawing language containing named variants such as Doomer, NPC, Coomer, and Soyjak. Some variants have been used in reactionary, far-right, and incel communities, so the surrounding image and caption can substantially change the term's meaning.[1][2][3]
How to use it
Wojak is informal and usually refers to the image or meme format rather than to a literal person. The classic face can be affectionate, self-mocking, melancholy, or quietly absurd; named variants often make the joke more specific. Because some Wojak variants have circulated in political and extremist spaces, do not assume that every Wojak image is politically neutral—read the caption, symbols, and surrounding context.
Sources
- 1. MemePulse — Feels GuySupports: meaning, earliest documented use, origin.
- 2. Wikipedia — WojakSupports: meaning, origin.
- 3. HfG Karlsruhe — By Users for Users: Memes as Digital FolkloreSupports: meaning, origin.
